Even if the big show isn’t the same as it used to be (I miss it already), that doesn’t mean that the big companies aren’t up to their old tricks. This is what my money’s on the big three announcing at their conferences – which start with Microsoft’s a fortnight today – along with a few outside bets.

Microsoft

• $100/£80 price drop across all SKUs.
• Halo 3 campaign demo, hopefully closer to the real thing than last time.
• Ninja Gaiden 2. I then spend an hour trying to clean up the mess I made.
• Some real PGR4 and Fable 2 video.
• Rare bringing back one of their classics (I don’t think it’ll be Killer Instinct, for the record).
• At least one current PS3 exclusive coming to 360.
• Shenmue III. Please? If enough of us believe they’ll have to do it.

Nintendo

• Lots and lots and lots of sales graphs.
• Animal Crossing Wii shown and it’ll be a kind of walled-garden MMO: you live in your town with friends over the net, using WiiConnect24 to let anyone mess around in the persistent town at any time. Ban this sick burglary simulator!
• Mario Kart Wii.
• More Smash Bros shown, with a new feature that we haven’t seen. I’ll be upset if the Ouendan team isn’t in it. Sonic finally making it in is an outside bet.
• A new console for the Virtual Console. Neo-Geo?
• Miyamoto waves something around and Reggie has a new line for the fanboys to run into the ground for the next year.

Sony

• Absolutely no sales graphs whatsoever.
• $100/£75 off PS3.
• PSP redesign.
• Killzone 2 is finally shown and looks very good, albeit no E3 05 trailer.
• Home and LBP. Lots of comparisons to MySpace put me off it even more.
• Sony ruins their palindrome with the announcement of the force feedback Sixaxis. Shockaxis?

Any thoughts or predictions of your own are, of course, welcome.